Some residents may have to pay for paving

That's one of several changes the county is considering for its road improvement program.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 16, 2002

Pasco County is considering overhauling its road improvement program by forcing some residents to pay for the paving of their streets.

Proposed changes include a provision allowing the county administrator to take a road paving project to the County Commission for approval, even if a majority of the residents say they don't want it.

The commission already has the right to initiate paving projects, but commissioners are talking about pushing those rights into action.

To help residents with assessments that could cost thousands of dollars, the proposed amendments give the County Commission discretion to pay for up to 25 percent of any paving project.

That money would come out of a $15-million paving assessment fund whose money stemmed partly from gas tax revenues.

These proposals follow months of discussions and workshops about the poor state of the county's roads, including hundreds of miles of dirt roads. The problem has sparked talk about raising the gas tax.

Forced assessments have taken place before when some of the residents on a road lived out of town and the majority of the local residents wanted the paving done.

Currently, the county paves a street only when the majority of homeowners agree.

Commissioner Peter Altman said he's in favor of forced assessments. The county should take the initiative, which it has not done before, and pick its worst roads to pave, he said. In turn, those residents should be given the benefit of a 25 percent discount on the paving assessment, he said.

The county would spare itself from repeatedly filling potholes on those roads, Altman said.

"When people come in and express their opinion, we can say there's a discount available," he said. "If they can still convince the majority of the county commissioners not to pave it, then we don't pave it. In my mind, we need to get away from this failed system."

Altman said he would not support giving the discount to residents who agreed to repaving through petitions.

To that, Commissioner Ann Hildebrand responded: "What? "I'm sorry, I don't think, well, that just makes it too confusing for the potential customer who wants to have their street paved," Hildebrand said.

She said she's skeptical about giving discounts.

"The bone that sticks in my throat is giving folks 25 percent blue light specials," she said. Some residents could complain that they were forced to pay the full cost while others got a break. But she said she does support forced assessments on the worst residential streets.

"They are traveled by school buses and (emergency vehicles). They are used by the general public," Hildebrand said.

Commissioner Pat Mulieri said she doesn't have a problem with the discount but does have concerns about high forced assessments in rural areas. She's particularly concerned about assessments of $10,000 or more.

"I'm not going to force that on some people," Mulieri said. "They might lose their house."

The commission will consider these amendments from the county attorney's proposal during its meeting Tuesday.

Another proposed change would add a third method of assessing paving costs for individual properties. In addition to charging by numbers of lots or the area fronting the road, the commission could charge based on the benefit to each property. Specifically, the charge would be based on the number of single-family homes allowed on the property under its current zoning.

Also, the changes would allow the commission to reduce or waive interest payments on the assessments for low-income residents.

Also, the placement of the lien from the assessment on the property would occur at the end of the project instead of the beginning. That's because some projects have dragged out for years, during which time residents had a hard time selling their property with a lien on it.

-- Saundra Amrhein covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is amrhein@sptimes.com.

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